1835.] Alexander Volta. 85 



is proper to attend to the knowledge which had been previ- 

 ously acquired in this department. Dr. Wall, who wrote 

 in 1708, offers the ingenious observation that the light and 

 crackling of electrified bodies appear to a certain extent, to 

 represent lightning and thunder. 



Stephen Grey, in 1735, observed that in time it is probable 

 means will be found of concentrating great quantities of 

 electrical matter, and of increasing the power of an agent, 

 which appeared to him, if small things can be compared 

 with great, to be of the same nature as thunder and 

 lightning. 



Nollet, in 1746, gave it as his opinion that thunder, in 

 the hands of nature, is electricity in the hands of natural 

 philosophers. 



The first views of Franklin, like those of his predecessors, 

 were simple conjectures ; but the former did not rest satisfied 

 with conjecture; he proposed to bring it to the test of 

 experiment, by observing if a pointed metallic rod would 

 afford sparks, during a thunder storm, similar to those of 

 the electrical machine. Without wishing to tarnish the 

 glory of Franklin, it may be remarked that the proposed 

 experiment was unnecessary. For the soldiers of the Fifth 

 Roman Legion had already made it during the African war, 

 on the day when, as Caesar tells us, the iron of their javelins 

 appeared on fire ; and in Friol at the chateau of Duino, the 

 overseer did what Franklin desired, when conformably to 

 his orders, with the view of protecting the fruits on the 

 approach of a storm, he ascertained with an iron instru- 

 ment, if sparks could be obtained from a rod placed verti- 

 cally. On the 18th May 1752, D'alibard during a storm, 

 procured small sparks from a pointed piece of metal which 

 he had placed in his garden, which was a month previous 

 to the results obtained by Franklin with his kite. 



The introduction of thunder rods was the consequence of 

 Franklin's discovery. It is curious to look into some of the 

 writings of that period. In one place you find travellers 

 braving the storms with sword in hand, in the attitude of 

 Ajax menacing the heavens; in another, the clergy, to 

 whom custom has interdicted the sword, regretting bitterly 

 that they were deprived of this precious talisman. Some 

 philosophers did not admit the utility of these instruments. 



